


When the Bough Breaks

by FangirlAnxiety101



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gadreel loves Humanity, Gen, Hurt Gadreel (Supernatural), Hurt Lucifer, Mentions of Eden, No Plot/Plotless, Sassy Lucifer (Supernatural), Storytelling, Wing Grooming, Wingfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-05
Updated: 2018-04-05
Packaged: 2019-04-18 14:36:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14215293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FangirlAnxiety101/pseuds/FangirlAnxiety101
Summary: My thoughts on a certain sentry's view of humanity being voiced to a certain archangel.Just some snark/angst/fluff/Hurt & comfort between Lucifer and Gadreel. I couldn’t tell you the underlying reason for their current location if I tried.(seriously you guys, there aren't enough of these fics in this fandom.)also, normal lettering is Lucifer, italics are Gadreel.





	When the Bough Breaks

**Author's Note:**

> I was pacing to new songs when this idea for (specifically) dialogue about humanity came to me; in fact, this was actually going to be a piece of a continuation fic i planned on doing, but it didn't really fit with the tone i was going for. SO its going to be a one-shot instead.   
> seriously, nobody mentions the connection between Lucifer and Gadreel in this fandom and it absolutely KILLS me. i needed closure! (or so i say.)
> 
> anyway, enjoy my midnight realization!

“Oh, please. What do you think I’m going to do to you? There’s nothing in here to kill you with, and the place is entirely warded anyway.”

_“Yes, because your inability to kill me is so VERY comforting.”_

“Sarcasm? Really?”

_“Being locked in a room with the one who is responsible for getting me imprisoned for all eternity isn’t exactly what I expected to deal with today.”_

“I’M responsible? Me? YOU were the one who failed your duty, DESPITE having a weapon that worked against me!”

_“Incredible.”_

“What!?”

_“You actually sound as if you wanted to be stopped, as if you wished for me to foil the first step of your rebellion against our father.”_

Lucifer went silent before trying to punch through a wall, yelling as he did so. The plaster dents, but it fixes itself in an instant. After a few more failed attempts, he turns around, studying the room before fixing his eyes back on Gadreel. Gadreel tenses, wings raised defensively. After another moment of silence, the archangel speaks once more, sliding down the wall as he does so.

” So, what did they do to you, exactly? In prison?”

Gadreel shifts uncomfortably for a moment before following Lucifer’s lead, sliding down the wall into a sitting position, elbows laying over his raised knees.

_“Nothing worse than what you would have done to me had I been banished to the cage as I originally thought I would be.”_

“What gave you that idea?”

_“Michael. He and Raphael were arguing outside the walls. Raphael thought it best if I were banished as well, but Michael said that father wanted you to be alone.”_

“And what dad says, goes, right?”

Gadreel just looks at Lucifer, tiredness evident in his posture and his eyes. Lucifer huffs, ducking his head down, so that all he can see are his jeans and his vessel’s pale hands, which he stares at as he continues.

“The cage…it created a whole other level of isolation for me. It got maddening after the first few centuries; nothing but the rattling of the chains outside the box, and the occasional thunder. No other sounds whatsoever. That’s probably when I started talking to myself, if only to feel as if I was not the only presence there.”

_“And I suppose that is why you refuse to be silent even now?”_

Lucifer looks up, glaring at the other angel. Gadreel doesn’t move, and his face doesn’t show any telltale signs of emotion, but his wings shiver slightly, waiting for the archangel to make the next move, perhaps expecting a fist through the chest.

“Could you stop for just one minute? I’m trying to – I’m trying….”

Lucifer huffs, rubbing his hands over his face in an attempt to calm down and collect his thoughts. None come, and so he gives up, crossing his arms and placing them on his legs, resting his head on them and closing his eyes. After a few minutes, Gadreel says something softly, a welcome sound after such a lengthy silence.

_“They drilled into my head, I know that much. It was horrible, everything I remembered morphing into nightmares. I was constantly confused, especially after they finished each session. Naomi, Thaddeus…Michael blamed me for father leaving, for you being locked away. He took Thaddeus to Naomi as well. He was only supposed to watch me, make sure I didn’t try anything, but…when Michael was finished with him…. he knew nothing but how to inflict pain upon me. He believed Michael when he said that it is what father commanded.”_

Lucifer opens his eyes to find Gadreel staring off into the corner above his head, as if in a trance. He looked so small, hunched over, his ruffled, damaged wings wrapped tightly around his vessel. He looked almost like a frightened fledgling, and Lucifer’s chest tightened as he thought back to before, when he used to watch his younger siblings play and joke, a fond warmth always within his chest.

_“Then came the actual torture. Michael did the first few cuts himself, but it was mostly Thaddeus from then on. He…he slashed, ripped, stabbed me. He plucked my feathers out one by one, crushing them into nothingness, destroying them right in front of me with holy fire. And I felt it – every single time. I was sure I would dwindle into nothingness before long, that there would be nothing left of me for him to destroy, eventually. I almost gave up._

_But then, Abner came.”_

The corners of Gadreel’s lips tilt up, a brightness in his eyes that Lucifer had never seen before. He ignored the hot feeling behind his eyes, the nagging tightness in his chest, and focused on the seraph’s words.

_“He was my salvation. He didn’t blame me for the Garden, never thought for even a second that I was wholly responsible for what happened. He stood beside me, comforted me after each and every session. He became more than just another prisoner – he became my friend. The only one I had left._

_But Thaddeus saw this, and he decided to take advantage of it. He began taking Abner back, and I could hear the screams. He once took us both, carving into one of us while the other was forced to watch. It was the worst thing I’d ever experienced, worse than being blamed; worse than being thrown into that cell in the first place; worse than falling and losing what was left of my wings. And yet, he would still crawl to the very edge of the bars, leaving his wounds unattended to offer me comfort. I felt that perhaps father had sent him for me, although I cannot say whether it was to bring me some peace, or to make me suffer more.”_

Lucifer realizes that he is now mimicking Gadreel’s position, his taller form hunched over, his three sets of battered wings curling around himself. He doesn’t trust himself to talk around the lump in his throat, and hopes that Gadreel will keep talking. He does.

_“After the fall, I trusted the wrong person once more. Metatron, he…he gave me names, names of people I had to kill to prove my loyalty. The prophet - Kevin Tran - was one of them, and one that I will never forgive myself for. Thaddeus was next on the list; he was easy, and I knew it was wrong that I enjoyed it as much as I did, but I felt satisfied none the less. But then…the next name led me to Abner. His vessel, rather. Looking back now, there was no significant threat that the man himself would have caused. I suppose that was Metatron’s final test; he knew about my history with Abner, and needed to see how far I would go to complete my job._

_I wasn’t sure I could do it at first, but…he had found a family, a sense of purpose, peace. I was happy for him, yes, but it pained me to see just how good he felt, how happy he looked without me around. Our bond was what got Thaddeus to torture him to begin with, and I saw nothing but relief in his eyes – relief that he was finally free. Not just from Thaddeus, but from me._

_I was still confident that there had to be another way. I told him that I had gotten revenge for us, that I had killed Thaddeus. I wanted him to be proud, to be happy because of ME. But that…that is not how it turned out. He said I should not have done it, that we were free, that we were above such things._

_The anger I felt was immense; I could remember nothing but scorn from my other siblings. I could remember how, despite everything everyone had said about me, he had been on my side, no matter what. But he wasn’t any longer. I felt that he believed himself better than I, that he never truly cared for me._

_It hurt, yes, but I did it – I slit his throat when his back was turned. I just hoped that my anger would stay, that I wouldn’t feel such regret afterwards, but…. I did. And in the end, I had nothing to show for it. I lost everything, for the same reason I lost everything all those years ago.”_

Lucifer couldn’t help but think of Michael. He remembered his brother’s negative reaction to what happened in the Garden. He remembered the sadness, the disappointment that radiated off his older brother. There was no pride whatsoever, and if that wasn’t just a stab to the heart for Lucifer at the time…

_“I didn’t deserve him, and I will never forgive myself for his death, either. And yet I wonder - would we have ever been as close as we were if I had never failed? If I had stopped you?”_

Gadreel looks up at Lucifer now, his face showing nothing but utter determination. There was a look of open honesty that scared Lucifer – very few people were brave enough to bare themselves, and their pasts, to him like this. The vulnerability of it was staggering, and it caught him off guard.

_“I caused myself, as well as many others, immense pain by failing my task. I was the down bringing of humanity, and I now know that it is a burden I will always carry with me, no matter who claims that I have found redemption. It is a stain on my very being, one that will never go away._

_But you know what? Despite all of it, if I could go back, relive that day, those few moments of hesitation that allowed you to take my weapon from me and break it in front of my very eyes…. I wouldn’t change a thing.”_

“What?”

Lucifer snorts, unable to believe what he is hearing. He studies Gadreel’s face, his wings, for any sign that he is lying – and finds nothing. He stares in amazement as Gadreel continues, now unbearably curious as to why the seraph would say such a thing.

_“Humans are flawed, yes. They kill, destroy, lie, and steal. They are selfish creatures, and some will even continue to harm others despite knowing it is wrong. But I’ve seen every single one of those qualities in our own brothers and sisters, in myself, in YOU, Lucifer. We all have the same traits._

_But humans have good in them as well, attributes that we don’t possess naturally; father created them differently. Now, answer me this; why would he do such a thing? What was so imperfect about all of us that he felt strongly enough to create these weak little souls, the very beings you have ridiculed since the dawn of time?_

_I’ll tell you why; he was fixing the mistakes he had made with all of us. Humans may have their faults, yes, but they also try to learn from said faults. They forgive, and they love unconditionally. They help, they create new things, and above all, they don’t give up._

_After the Garden, Adam and Eve could have simply given up, could have sat down and waited for death to take them. But they didn’t - despite failing our father, they continued on, determined to make a life for themselves with what they had left._

_You ruined me, Lucifer; my reputation, my very being - but you did not ruin them. The tree was nothing but a test; they had free will all along, and you ignited it into what it is today. You made them BETTER, Lucifer, despite your best attempts to do just the opposite. You tried to prove all of us wrong, to prove to father that you were right about them - but they proved you wrong instead, and if that isn’t the most amazing thing I’ve seen since falling, then I don’t know what is.”_

Lucifer stared at the seraph, mouth open slightly in shock. He had never, EVER had someone speak to him like Gadreel just had. He’d never heard anyone claim that he had made humanity better, or that angels were somehow just as tainted as these humans were.

Except, he had. Gabriel had said many of the same things back at that hotel, just before Lucifer had stabbed him. He felt a sudden wave of regret, a lead weight in his stomach as he remembered what he had done, how betrayal had been evident on every inch of his younger brother’s face as he taunted him before twisting the blade, effectively ending his life.

Perhaps the reason he was so much more shocked by what Gadreel had just reiterated was because of HOW he said it - because of his complete faith in humanity, tangible in every syllable he said. He was the complete opposite of Lucifer in that regard. The specifics of what the seraph said had never truly occurred to the archangel until now.

_Perhaps,_ Lucifer thought, sighing as he stretched his limbs, _perhaps he has a point_.

He stood, never taking his eyes off the other angel, who did the same. Lucifer slowly walked forward as he talked.

“Gadreel…whether you truly meant to let me in or not, it was foolish to let your emotions cloud your judgement.” He is now maybe two feet away from the wary seraph, who is coiled tight as a spring, wings absolutely still as they pressed flat against the wall behind him, an automatic sign of submission. Lucifer studies him for a moment, exasperation evident on his face.

“But I don’t think you deserved everything you went through. Not anymore.” silence. He sighs in annoyance, still getting no response.

“They really did scramble you in there, didn’t they?” He snarked, no bite behind his words. Slowly, hesitantly, he unfurls his three sets of wings from behind him. Gadreel whimpers, a barely-there noise of panic that Lucifer almost misses. He doesn’t stop, letting his wings stretch all the way out, blocking the light and casting shadows on the wall behind the nervous seraph. He carefully studies Gadreel, keeping his eyes on the other’s face and keeping his movements slow. Gadreel is quietly panting in fear, eyes shut tight as he waits for impact.

What he doesn’t expect is to be wrapped up in a tight hug, face pressed into the taller man’s shoulder.

Gadreel tenses up for one, two, three seconds before all but clinging to the archangel desperately, wings curling inwards and brushing the insides of Lucifer’s. The archangel takes it in stride, wrapping pink around blue and green, cushioning the other angel’s wings. Lucifer’s frayed grace touches his own, lightly, hesitantly, as if asking permission. Gadreel obliges, closing his eyes and baring himself to the other being, grace intertwining with Lucifer’s.

_“Thank you.”_ Gadreel chokes out, burrowing his face into his brother’s neck.

He smells like honeysuckle and ozone, and Gadreel can’t remember the last time he felt the touch of another angel’s grace that wasn’t malicious. He shivers as he feels feathers growing back, and realizes that Lucifer is HEALING him. The tingling that accompanies the connection is strange but not unpleasant, and certainly not unwelcome. He shivers as Lucifer mumbles something, grip temporarily tightening around Gadreel.

“I’m tired of fighting, Gadreel. I’m tired of having to kill my brothers, tired of being beaten down by the Winchesters, tired of having no connections left.  I’m tired of being ME.”

_“Me too, brother.”_ he manages to get out. He waits for the taunting, for Lucifer to get angry at the title, the one he hasn’t been able to use in millennia. There is nothing.

They stay like this, eventually ending up on the floor, Gadreel all but sitting in Lucifer’s lap. Both relax gradually, the atmosphere in the room lightening somewhat. When Gadreel’s wings are finally filled in completely, Lucifer moves his arms. Conversely, Gadreel tightens his grip, not yet willing to give up the connection.

Lucifer huffs out a laugh, both a sign of reassurance and amusement at his brother’s clinginess. He rolls his shoulders, shushing the younger angel as he removes his own wings and turns Gadreel around so he can better reach the green and blue ones surrounding him. Gadreel all but purrs as Lucifer begins running his fingers through the feathers, straightening them and strengthening the new ones. The seraph reciprocates, reaching what pink feathers he can in the position he is in.

They may have a long way to go, but Lucifer is confident that this is a good start. He finds it ironic that the first bond he is fixing is the first bond he broke to begin with, but he wasn’t surprised in the least; after all, coincidences don’t seem to mean much here.

Two angels sit curled against each other, their grace intertwined, their fingers grooming each other’s wings. Their father watches on, a small smile on his face. Perhaps his children aren’t too far gone – perhaps they can become more like the humans they have watched for so long, the ones they have protected for millennia. It wouldn’t be the first miracle he has seen in his long life.

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys, let me know what you think about this! would you like to hear more dialogue like this? more apology and hurt/comfort fics? something else? (i'm taking requests *cough cough*) tell me in the comments!
> 
> until next time, hunters!


End file.
